In high throughput experimentation a large number of experiments are carried out in parallel in order, for instance, to determine optimal process conditions.
A problem which occurs when using known systems is that unevaporated liquid reagent can be swept undesirable into a heated or hot reaction zone and flash boil. If a gaseous reagent is also fed to the reaction zone said liquid could be entrained by the gas aggravating said problem even further. Also, due to surface tension effects, droplets may be formed on the inner wall of the vessel, which droplets are difficult to heat and will thus not evaporate properly, result in droplets of reagent reaching the reaction zone, which leads to a fluctuating feed of liquid reagent to the reaction zone. This impairs control of the circumstances and reactions(s) in the reaction zone, resulting in undesired variations in pressure, temperature, concentration of reagents, etc. Also this impaired control may lead to unwanted by-products in a reaction.
The above mentioned problem is particularly pertinent in the case of small volume vessels, as is the case in high throughput experimentation. In these experiments a small amount of liquid reagent is fed to the reaction zone, possibly in combination with a gaseous reagent, and consequently relatively minor evaporation rate changes of the liquid reagent will have influence on partial pressures in the reaction zone which impair the reaction performance and results obtained.
The known system are also unsatisfactory in trickle flow experiments, where it is desired that a part of the liquid reagent is evaporated and is in equilibrium with a gaseous reagent feed to the reaction zone, whereas another part of the liquid should reach the reaction zone in liquid phase. These experiments too require a uniform and stable evaporation rate not achieved by the prior art systems.